“Genuine ignorance is profitable, because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish, waterproof to new ideas.”

“God is not the Bible. To make the Bible into God is idolatrous. The Bible is God’s communication—in the form of words—with us. We can trot out here all the important words about the Bible—inspiration, revelation, truth, etc.—and they deserve to be. But those are not enough. Behind all of these words is the astounding claim we Christians make: the Bible is God’s communication with us in the form of words” Scott McKnight

“The Bible does provide norms for life. This is all true, but several problems arise with using the Bible principally as a kind of “rule book” for life. First, large chunks of Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments have a relatively small proportion of imperatives or commands. Much of Scripture seems to be descriptive rather than obviously prescriptive. Much of Scripture doesn’t tell us to do anything at all, particularly the historically oriented books” Michael Emlett

“as far as I know I was the first person to introduce the phrase strategic leadership in the early 1970s. Subsequently I discovered that in that phrase the word leadership is actually redundant. For in Greek strategy is made up of two words: stratas, a large body of people, and the egy element which means leadership. Strategy is simply the art of leading an organisation.”

There is a popular quote with various accreditations and guises that goes something like:

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” This by Harry S Truman

As a whole, there is nothing wrong with this, in isolation it is not helpful. If people are genuinely working as a team, to the same goal and rejoicing together then it is fabulous. However, if part of the team is not appreciated for the value they bring, ignored for the service they contribute and not celebrated for their sacrificial endeavour, our normal human nature kicks in and demotivation or apathy ensues.

It is important to celebrate appropriately and to honour those who work hard amongst us. Scant praise will be seen for what it is – we need to do things well.

A quick, but not conclusive, survey of social media suggests that many who use this type of quote are in positions where they are honoured, celebrated and praised. Far less usage is visible from those without a platform. Surely that can inform us of something?

The flip side of this is that those who are not praised need to recognise the place where they place their identity. In the hand of God or the hands of men. Surely the highest praise is received from the former when He says “well done my good and faithful servant”

“the Will, Skill, and Refill philosophy is a foundation of all of our personal and corporate training. This is how it works: Will—this is the “want to.” This is the heart, the desire, the attitude, the passion that people have. Skill—this is the “how to.” This is the skill, the process, the technical expertise that people have. Refill—this is reinforcing the Will and Skill. There is no such thing as “one and done” training and development. Will and Skill must be developed and reinforced daily”

“The more I tried to exert power directly, the less powerful I became. I learned to dial back my ego and distribute power as widely as possible without surrendering final authority. Paradoxically, this approach strengthened my effectiveness because it freed me to focus on my job as keeper of the team’s vision.”

“Some coaches insist on having the last word, but I always tried to foster an environment in which everyone played a leadership role, from the most unschooled rookie to the veteran superstar. If your primary objective is to bring the team into a state of harmony and oneness, it doesn’t make sense for you to rigidly impose your authority.”